I think that one thing that needs to be remembered is that Dune 2 and Ghostbusters were supposed to come out in November and December respectively, but got delayed because of the strikes. Those probably would’ve been the biggest box office movies of those 2 months. Definitely would have changed the charts.
On that point too, it's worth remembering the lack of full promotion options of some of the films that stayed in 2023 heavily impacted potential box office. Hopefully that means the more normal campaigns for the 2024s will make the bo good.
I have to wonder if the quicker turn-around for films to go from theaters to streaming has conditioned audiences to wait for the streaming debut or even for the physical media release. I know I feel less "urgency" to see most things in theaters.
Studios definitely think this, which is why the turn around is starting to get longer again - look at Across the Spiderverse, it took super long, comparatively, to reach streaming
this is definitely the case for me. there are many movies I'm interested in, but which I don't have to absolutely see at the cinema so if I miss them, I don't mind simply watching them a bit later at home.
I also feel less urgency because nothing has been "blow me out of the water, great" where I fear getting spoilers or fear missing out on hype for the last 2 years.
For me it definitely has, unless the movie is getting rave reviews, or is something that's a must watch at the theatre because of visuals or cinematography, I am content to wait.
Can't believe the marvels is the bigger flop than aquaman 2 considering it's from MCU rather than dead franchise like DCEU. The Marvels is at 205 million worldwide now while Aquaman 2 is at 120 million in it's first week.
@@dannysmi7162Let’s be honest. Even without Amber Heard, it would be a mediocre movie at best. Marvel and DC need to make more compelling movies with compelling plots. The audience grew and evolved over the years. These writers and studios did not.
@@dannysmi7162 Not sure that would make a difference. People have gotten so tired of bad superhero movies and this movie in particular is part of a now dead franchise that is getting reshaped and rebooted.
Also I’d be curious if this depression in tickets extends to more independent films or films that are considered “more artsy”. I feel like people think the big studio films are very stale, but I don’t think that sentiment extends to the smaller films/A24 style films. I’d be curious to see if A24’s year was as glum as Disneys or Universals by comparison.
A24 had a good year overall. On one hand, they did lose money on Beau is Afraid with had a $35M budget and only gross $11M. However Past Lives made $21M against a $12M budget, and Talk to Me grossed $92.M against a small budget of $4.5M, Priscilla grossed $20.9M from just domestic box office (it'll go into other countries starting in Jan 2024), and The Iron Claw is looking to be a small success over the holidays.
Looking back at this year, I think this is the least amount of films I saw in theaters since 2020. Due to my budget changing, it's harder to go even to matinee screenings as those discounts are still around $10 a seat at least. If I don't go on discount Tuesdays it can cost like $60-80 for 2 or 3 of us to go with price of tickets and snacks. And personally I know a lot of people laid of this year, so I wonder with family situations we're seeing less people at theaters especially with lay offs at the end of the year.
The main reason movies are doing so poorly is that the time between theatre release and home streaming is now just 1-2 months. Remember when you would have ti wait 10 months to get your hands on the dvd if you missed the chance to see a movie in theatres? Why spend 100$ to take the family to see a movie when you can stream it at home next month?
For a family, streaming really gives a superior value. Also at home you can buy snacks for the whole family for less than 20% of what it costs at theater.
The movie industry really needs to improve the moviegoing experience. I have a few small theaters near me that I enjoy. I can get a reasonably priced drink beforehand if I'm early, then get a genuinely good bucket of popcorn to eat during the movie and sit in comfortable seats. Last week, I wanted to see Aquaman, more out of morbid curiosity than anything, and the only theater near me was a Regal. It was a completely outdated theater. I don't mean it was in bad condition. It was clean and newish. But it had mediocre seats and awful popcorn. Just in general, it didn't feel like an experience I should pay almost $40 for (over $16 for the ticket, and over $20 for the soda and popcorn) even before the uninteresting film. Additionally, I had to wait over 30 minutes past the scheduled start time for the movie to begin. That's unacceptable. The unlimited movie memberships are a step in the right direction but I'll pay more to go to an independent theater with a better experience.
There are so many indie theaters out there with loyal and returning customers that are successful for exactly the reasons you're talking about. The big chains' continued deliberate ignorance about the slowly degrading theater experience and high prices is accelerating what could be a death spiral for theaters as we know them.
I think AMC and smaller franchises like Icon have really nice theaters with comfortable recliners and large food and drink options, but they're too pricey for most showings. Icon does $6.50 or so movies on Tuesday nights, so if I go to a theater, it's going to be Tuesdays. Otherwise, get ready to pay about $15/ticket, more if you book online for opening weekends.
In the UK, there are several "indie chain" type groups of cinemas which seem to focus on delivering a better experience than the soulless multiplex, with more comfortable seats, better food and drink brought to your seats etc. I wonder if there's a gap in the market for these in the US.
@@mrmacross I mostly go to these kind of indie/small-franchise cinemas in the UK, and they are sometimes more expensive than the multiplex chains (but not necessarily). However, I rarely if ever pay full price because I use MUBI GO (a subscription service connected to an "arthouse movies" streaming service) to get free tickets (which translates to much lower prices per ticket especially if I go to a lot of them), and I also have membership of one of the small franchise chains (and used to have membership of a different one), which also translates to cheaper tickets.
@@KeithFraser82 We do have some theaters like that in the US but not a lot. I live in Chicago and there's only one theater like that that I know of in the city itself, and we have the third highest population in the country.
Aquaman 2 legit made less than Marvels, which had like dozens of articles about how badly it flopped...Aquaman doesnt even get the articles, it flopped so bad everyone forgott about it week 2.
December legs where typical dailies act as weekend days. Wait for the movie to finish its run. Releasing in December changes the context. DC failing is WAY different from MCU failing. Aquaman 2 will also outgross Marvels. There is no conspiracy
EVERYONE expected Aquaman to do what it's doing - slowly limp away from the burning wreck of the DCEU. Hence why it had so little marketing and not even a premiere. While many people did expect The Marvels to flop, the studio and media outlets were still acting like it was going to do well until it actually came out. Plus, despite the bad state of the MCU, it's not actually dead the way the DCEU is, so an MCU flop is way more newsworthy.
Movie genres run in cycles of popularity - in the past there were peak multi-years for musicals, westerns, rom-coms (hello 80's!), sci-fi, epic dramas, etc. It's been all about superhero/comic book movies for a number of years now - maybe it's just running out it's clock like all the others have. Will be interesting to see what the next genre will be.
I'm starting to get the idea that this year's lackluster cinema output from Hollywood is indicative of how effed up Wall Street is. Regardless of what's happening "on the ground", be it a pandemic, a writer's strike, or simply a movie that needs more time to germinate, these studios still have to answer to shareholders want to see growth quarter after quarter, year after year. The result: Hollywood will put out half-baked movies no matter what. 🤔
But, in terms of investment, half-baked movies will not cut it. Neither will releasing movies to streaming far too soon the way they have been doing. "Wall Street" wants to make money. Crap movies will not typically do that.
It would be cool if you did a chart that shows the difference between average box office of blockbusters before and after movies like the mcu(high blockbusting comic book movie) just to put into perspective what success used to mean what it became and what it might be going back to.
A potentially interesting idea for a deep dive segment: Budgets of movies in various eras. For example, Cleopatra (1963), known for it's horrendously high budget at the time, is now 33 on the list of highest budget movies when adjusted for inflation. In the top 76 (what was on Wikipedia because it was accessible) only 5 movies were in the 20th century.
Love your show, Dan. I have a couple of questions. 1. When was the last time a Disney movie did not feature in the Top 10 Weekend grosses, and what is the longest duration where something like that happened? 2. Why have you stopped doing the Studio grosses breakdown? It was one of my favourite parts of the show.
It's interesting about "Wonka" overtaking "Aquaman" for the 26th. I went to the Del Oro theatre in Grass Valley, CA last night to see "Wonka." It's an old theatre palace that was converted to three screens by splitting up the balcony into two screens while leaving the original (much larger) screen intact. Earlier last week, the website indicated "Aquaman" was on the big screen. But when we got there yesterday, "Wonka" was on the big screen (and there was a large number of people in the audience). I guess "Wonka" was really showing more potential during "Aquaman's" opening weekend.
I would love to see a poll asking movie-goers what movies they saw, what movies they skipped (that they night have seen), and what kept them away from theaters this year. I don't know where it could be posted that would drive enough responses to give an accurate reading, but I'm very curious what the responses would be.
That's a great idea. I skipped all Marvel and DCEU movies because they looked like derivative CGI cr@p. I skipped Mission Impossible because I hate watching Tom Cruise in anything. I DID watch John Wick chapter 4 because I enjoyed all the previous ones; Barbie because it looked visually unique; Killers of the Flower Moon because of reviews; and Godzilla Minus One because of "word of mouth." The vast majority of movies I could either live without or just wait until streaming, like Elemental, Oppenheimer, Napoleon, etc.
Do you think that maybe the lackluster performance of the box office is partly due to people feeling like there's less choices in cinemas nowadays? Hollywood has restructured itself to make much less movies with much higher budgets, and sent everything else to streaming. But now that those movies don't make a billion dollars anymore (and the streaming model seems to underperform), do you think we may see more mid-sized movies from talented filmmakers geting the marketing push and wide cinematic release they deserve? I live in Greece and seeing some of the most talked-about movies of the year (Zone of Interest, All of Us Strangers) get such miniscule releases over there is insane to me.
If you look at that 2000 Top 5, that's 5 movies starring 5 of the biggest movie stars in the world. That's like having a 2023 weekend where The Rock, Timothee Chalamet, Chris Hemsworth, Zendaya and Tom Cruise each had a relatively small (i.e. not 300 millon dollar) movie coming out *at cinemas* at the same time. That sounds insane nowadays!! But maybe it can become the norm again, as Hollywood slowly realises that they can't have an Avengers Endgame every month, and that wasting talent on streaming movies is unsustainable.
2023 might be the worst year for big-budget movies? Can't believe how the MCU and DCEU both have hit an all-time low. Even animated movies have underperformed. Movies that were supposed to be full-proof are no longer bankable. It's a lesson to the studios to focus more on quality than quantity. GOTG3 and Across The Spiderverse prove that there is still an audience for these movies, it just has to be worth going to the theatres.
This shows the market is shrinking and it might be frustrating and everything comes around with a circle and this year it was and I think it will shrink more and more. Comic book movies won’t be there anymore to boost domestic box office anymore so original films have to do the leg work and audience kinda has abandoned the original movie completely and also abandoning comic book genre as well… so next year you will see it will shrink more and more. The companies should re new their objective to low cost to higher profit.
We have to give it to Godzilla Minus one. It made 40 million in the US, with only internet marketing, and it cost just *15 million* dollars to make. Also, it seems like we may actually witness and anime (The Boy and the Heron) make more than a major Disney animated release (Wish) That represents something big.
Executives can blame streaming as much as they want to, but the fact of the matter is folks like me aren't going to pay 15 to 20 dollars to see the hot garbage they've been pumping out recently.
People have realised that bad movies aren’t worth paying for. They see the the most generic looking trailer for Aquaman and never think about it again.
That's it. If the trailers look promising and reviews are good people will show up. My group opted out of Aquaman, Flash and Marvels, but is already discussing theater options for Dune Pt2.
Wasn’t aware of the Freud/Lewis movie. There’s a book about hypothetical conversations between CS Lewis, Aldous Huxley and JFK, who all died on the same day about religion and the after life. All the best to you and your family this new year, Dan
NFL had multiple games Saturday Sunday and Monday and with that landing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I think that ate into a lot of the box office plus a very rainy weekend in the south - combined with no must see movies and this is what you get.
Disney's Holiday Tentpole Animated Feature still needs to make another 7 Million (about 15% more of it's current total which is very unlikely) to beat out THE PAW PATROL MOVIE!! That is absolutely wild to me. I realize that Wish wasn't a great movie, but Paw Patrol was pretty aweful, too. (I have a kid and had to go see both films... lucky me!) Edit: I'm talking Domestic numbers, not international... which is still significant!
I think Disney/Pixar's titles for their animated movies need an overhaul - no one knows what "Wish" "Elemental" "Strange World", "Onward" mean. They don't have to be long titles, but I feel like you should understand a little more about the movie from a title. Even though Disney argued "The Princess & the Frog" didn't bring boys to the theater, you at least have an idea of what the movie is about!
@@super256colors2 agreed. Why couldn't it be called Rapunzel? Why did it have to be "Tangled"? Her hair didnt even get tangled in the movie. (By the way, I really like Tangled, but the title sucks. This trend has been going on for over a decade now!) Edit: I used Tangled as an example because although it does bring long hair to mind, it's just as abstract a concept as Elemental, which was a Romeo/Juliet story about different elements (plus a random sub-plot about not doing what your parents want even though she seemed really good at it and perfectly happy with it, except customer service of course which her dad also struggles with, until about 2/3 of the way through the movie when she abandoned her well-paying career to pursue an internship to do a hobby full time even though she 100% could have made glass sculptures and sold them successfully while running her parent's well established shop. I mean how is she supposed to make money off her glass sculptures without a store to sell them in? You'd think having a store all set up would give you a HUGE advantage in selling your handmade products, but no... it's what her dad wanted her to do, so therefore it's not what SHE wants to do, so it's BAD... even though it is absolutely possible that the thing your dad wants you to do is also the thing that you want to do... just because your dad wants it doesnt mean you can't want it too. "Oh, he always wanted me to do it, and I always wanted to do it too; therefore, he must be manipulating me..." What kind of BS is that? Granted, I dont think they said those exact words, but it is heavily implied. At the end, the dad is all sad and guilty for being excited about something and seeing his daughter excited about the exact same thing and sharing a lot of great bonding moments over a shared passion... HOW DARE HE?!) Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah... Elemental SUCKED!! And more than just the title on that one.
Love the "Looking Back" feature and adjusting for current dollar amounts. Would love to see Dan go way back (if he can find data) to something from the 1950s or 1960s.
People aren't going to see BAD movies! Most of the big flops this year were not good movies. Some were ok at best. People are showing up for the good ones, Barbenheimer proves it. Wonka is doing well, and it's good. GotG was also good. So was Mario. The only good one that wasn't the hit it deserved to be was Mission Impossible, but that was because it was hurt by Barbenheimer and lost screens. The more serious dramas, "Oscar movies", don't really count, they're rarely box office hits anyway (I'm putting Killers of the Flower Moon in this category, it's not fair to compare it to Oppenheimer, a Nolan summer movie. It was never gonna make money anyway).
The idea audiences show up to good films is laughable. They show up to franchises that aren't a complete joke at this point. Barbenheimer is an anomoly and was driven by a meme, barbie as a product, Nolan's name, and yeah the films were quality themselves. But that doesn't mean audiences are willing to see non franchises if they also have quality.
Thank you Dan for another great show! Based on your chart comparing pre-Covid, it will be very interesting to see if the trend continues in 2024. Btw if you haven’t seen his end of year show with Rocca and Harloff, it’s great! Be dry informative and low-key. No heads battling for control of the screen!!
saw Matilda the musical in the cinema, it was absolutley delightful! i'm sure if it was theatrically released everywhere it would have done much better, such a shame but glad it made the top 5.
Migration's trailers have looked so medicore at best. It has only ever reminded me of Fly Away Home from the 90's which is a actually good movie and loosely based on the true story of a ultralight and trike pilot who guided orphaned geese on their first migration.
I think we can call it, the BOX OFFICE will NEVER be what it once was. Too many reasons why but with $ being what it is so many people are just waiting for streaming. I LOVE theatres but it is what it is
@nms7872 it is more complicated, which is why I said too many reasons why. the streaming is just the simplest, in my belief people during the pandemic got used to saving that money and watching at home where they have there own food, bathroom and not a dozen strangers with there phones out or crying babies at a rated r film etc etc
Is there a way we could get a chart which shows us a typical marketing window for films vs when the wga and sag strikes were happening and maybe also include films that were pushed out of the holiday season because of them. I have to believe that this supposed slump is largely because of a complete lack of advertising from anybody involved
Is counting box office, and certainly comparing it to pre-streaming (or pre 2020) numbers, any longer valid? Just as the music charts were once made purely on record sales, then began to include streaming etc - will we ever see the movie charts include streaming numbers? That would surely help make the wider picture much clearer, since the "bums on seats" figures should also include our couch.
I think this is only relevant from a financial sense when it’s clear how streaming plays into a movie’s performance. Streaming with music is also a bit different because it’s simultaneous with record sales, not weeks later.
@@DanMurrellMovies I imagine the biggest reason "they" don't release streaming figures is that they're so difficult to quantify. In Box Office, 1 ticket = 1 person = x dollars - while streaming is a mess of how many people watching, for how long, watching half now, half later... even going by "minutes watched" doesn't give a clear view - 10 million people watching the first 10 minutes of a Zach Snyder isn't the same as 1 million people watching all 100 minutes of a Wes Anderson. It's all very murky.
I saw The Boys in the Boat around 1 on Sunday in the Sioux Falls Theater. Decent size crowd for a matinee during a rainy day, but it had 30 minutes worth of trailers.
That’s crazy! Illumination always does well, regardless of the quality of their movies! This is unprecedented. Maybe they just didn’t have enough advertising. Kind of like how Dream Works essentially just gave up on their Teenage Kraken movie. Like yeah, of course Kraken failed, you didn’t even try.
I disagree. I don't remember seeing an ad or a trailer for Teenage Kraken. Thanks to a few good reviews, I took my son to the theater. We had a pretty good time. We've seen the trailer for Migration several times. The jokes in the trailer are bad. We will almost certainly skip it.
Migration had a lot of in-theater marketing. Regal used it as a tie in for its 50 dollar gift card and get a 10 dollar concession card deal, besides the trailers, which were quite common for family films. I saw it, it wasn't bad, bit of a plot hole, but really enjoyed Carol Kane as the Heron. Her scenes were great.
I want to go see Aquaman 2, but I’m visiting my parents for Christmas, and we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere in terms of how far I’d have to go to get to a good theater.
I visited family in the dominican republic and I went to the cinema often because of how cheap the prices were in comparison to in the u.s. Not an unpopular opinion for a reason, I really think movies in general would benefit a lot more from it
it's not even the money. Why would i spend 3 hours of my life watching a movie that is average or only mildly entertaining. Movies are competing for time with Tik Tok, UA-cam, Instagram, streaming and Video Games and they are slowly losing. Movies as a source of entertainment are falling further down the list than they were in the past.
I know it dropped "at the worst time possible" but I keep wondering if you'll do a special Streaming With Dan where you go over "the revelations" available from the huge data dump that Netflix did putting the streaming numbers out there for years worth of "stuff"
6:40 Hey Dan, would it be possible to keep this year's line present next year? With how up & down this year has been I think it would be good for comparison on it's own.
I'm surprised about Migration. I took my daughter to the theater last night and it was packed. I guess that's why numbers are more important than anecdotal.
I'm disappointed Godzilla Minus One didn't do better. Its the best story the franchise has ever done with decent fx but its only making the money of a lackluster blockbuster. I can only hope Hollywood tries to emulate their cut-rate filmmaking because they can't afford the $200 million films anymore.
It’s doing exceptionally well for an international film with little to no marketing, especially compared to what would be spent on a blockbuster. Far above what would be expected.
Do you think this is indicative of an audience sea change? Many of these underperformers are sequels or incredibly derivative or recycled IP, or played out genres, and not very creative scripts. Thats a subjective analysis but it seems to ve a trend to me of people turning away big budget studio films
These types of analysis really require a bigger sample and more objectivity. Because keep in mind that the the top 2 grossers of the year are based on long estalbished, well recognized IP, 4th and 5th are parts of massive franchises, 6th is a sequel and the like 10th spider man movie.
@@miz4535 I feel like that's only partly true and a studio copout. Like no one is streaming Aquaman or the marvels or migration or wish etc to massive numbers that that's the reason people aren't seeing them in the box office. That's a false connection.
How do you know how much people are streaming these films? They don't really give out numbers. Pixar and Disney live action films have made substantially less since streaming, and the quality is no different. I wonder why that is. Encanto did gangbusters on streaming yet flopped theatrically. @@Robinripley
I actually really enjoyed Blue Beetle. But even then I'll admit it wasn't breaking new ground. It certainly didn't break new ground financially speaking. Actually that's a lie, it did break new ground financially. It made less money than the other DCEU movies, including Shazam 2.
GOTG 3 is more a win for Gunn than it is for Disney. It's success does not make up for the other losses financially they have endeared this year while Gunn got to put another feather in his cap for his vision coming to an end.
As always, Dan is the absolute best for box office data and content! However, I have been missing the Rotten Tomatoes Decoded segment. Does anyone know if that segment been switched to another show?
India is killing it with their big budget action blockbuster in the US. Started with Baahubali 1&2, followed by RRR, KGF1&2, & now this year with Pathaan, Jawan, Animal, Leo and Salaar. Next year is going to be even bigger
@@Z71990 yes. Pushpa 2 might be the biggest one in India. But Project K a.k.a Kalki 2898 AD will be the biggest Indian film internationally, as it's a sci-fi genre & also the most expensive Indian film ever made
I am a middle aged woman with kids, and I saw adverts for it all the time. The thing I never saw marketing for was Aquaman 2. It's frustrating because I search and watch almost exclusively geeky stuff (comic books, DnD, SciFi, etc), and have the thing checked to get specifically catered ads, but the algorithm sees "middle aged woman who statistically probably has kids" and only gives me commercials for laundry detergent, grocery stores, and kids media. 😡 Edit: oh, and wrinkle cream... can't forget that!
Warner Bros. should be thanking their lucky stars they managed to score the highest grossing movie of the year with Barbie, otherwise this year has been a complete disaster for them at the box office alongside Disney. I think Robert Pattinson’s Batman movie last year may have been the last DC movie to actually do well and the string of flops they’ve had since then already make that feel like a distant memory. Both DC and Marvel need to change things up, stop making their movies look like they’re part of an assembly line of manufactured products and carefully hone in on fewer, higher quality movies if they want to do well again.
The insane thing is that Warner Bros. has been limping along for AWHILE. Remember Pan and their Man from UNCLE remake? As soon as Harry Potter finished (2011!), they were in hot water.
As a movie fan I love that people finally showed Hollywood this year with their wallets what they find important which is a wanting a good story, well written characters and good word of mouth. If Hollywood wants to do better at the box office in 2024 they need to spend more time and money to allow writers to write better scripts and dialogue and way less on bland CGI because James Cameron has raised the bar a lot when it comes to CGI
Sure. In the meantime, a mass of people like me just waited until it hit streaming a few weeks later, whether it was good or not. Don't put too much stock into the idea that fans ignored the theater because of "quality." I suspect this lack of enthusiasm for the theater will continue as long as we know that we can watch the movie for much cheaper by just waiting a few weeks.
I went to the movies on Christmas Eve and was shocked at how empty the place was. Every time I've gone to the movies on Christmas, it is packed. Not a good sign for studios.
I think if a movie doesn't have good word of mouth, then its pretty much dead in this new environment. People are not spending the huge gobs of cash for tickets that theater's are asking. Its why I feel that Cinema is going to only serve for special releases as more movies get released through streaming platforms now.
In contrast to the numbers, 2023 has been my personnal busiest at the theaters. 67 movies seen in person at the theater between january and december. 57 of which at my local independant theater, the other 10 at the Fantasia Festival.
For anyone wondering, here is my 2023 list. (SP = Special Presentation with the crew present for a Q&A, usually including Director, Producer, Writer and Main Cast) (DA = Dolby Atmos) The Whale M3GAN A Man Called Otto Missing Infinity Pool Women Talking Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania Cocaine Bear Le Plongeur (SP) Frontières (SP) 65 As Bestas Shazam! Fury of the Gods John Wick Chapter 4 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Farador (SP) Renfield Suzume Evil Dead Rise Beau is Afraid Phi 1.618 Sisu Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 (DA) Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse (DA) Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (DA) La Nuit du 12 The Flash (DA) Asteroid City Indiana Jones: the Dial of Destiny (DA) Past Lives Le Temps d'un Été Oppenheimer (DA) Barbie Gran Turismo (DA) Les Chambres Rouges (SP) Blue Beetle (DA) Equalizer 3 (DA) Richelieu (SP) The Creator (DA) Mad Max: Fury Road (DA) Vampire Humaniste Cherche Suicidaire Consentant (SP) Killers of the Flower Moon (DA) Anatomie d'une Chute The Holdovers The Marvels (DA) Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (DA) Napoleon (DA) Dream Scenario Silent Night (DA) The Boy and the Heron (DA) Saltburn Godzilla Minus One (DA) Wonka (DA) Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom (DA) Poor Things The Iron Claw At Fantasia: A Chinese Ghost Story Sympathy for the Devil (SP) Divinity Ride On Sand Land (SP) Talk To Me (SP) New Normal Le Visiteur du Futur What You Wish For (SP) Late Night With the Devil
I think that one thing that needs to be remembered is that Dune 2 and Ghostbusters were supposed to come out in November and December respectively, but got delayed because of the strikes. Those probably would’ve been the biggest box office movies of those 2 months. Definitely would have changed the charts.
On that point too, it's worth remembering the lack of full promotion options of some of the films that stayed in 2023 heavily impacted potential box office. Hopefully that means the more normal campaigns for the 2024s will make the bo good.
I have to wonder if the quicker turn-around for films to go from theaters to streaming has conditioned audiences to wait for the streaming debut or even for the physical media release. I know I feel less "urgency" to see most things in theaters.
Studios definitely think this, which is why the turn around is starting to get longer again - look at Across the Spiderverse, it took super long, comparatively, to reach streaming
I think the trend that Disney especially does to give subpar content than attack the fanbase has taken its tool on the masses.
this is definitely the case for me. there are many movies I'm interested in, but which I don't have to absolutely see at the cinema so if I miss them, I don't mind simply watching them a bit later at home.
I also feel less urgency because nothing has been "blow me out of the water, great" where I fear getting spoilers or fear missing out on hype for the last 2 years.
For me it definitely has, unless the movie is getting rave reviews, or is something that's a must watch at the theatre because of visuals or cinematography, I am content to wait.
I guess 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' didn't make any *WAVES* this holiday season 🌊
*walks away*
@@Theinfamouskiki411You meant *swim away* right 😉
You could say it SANK like a stone! Boy, Aquaman sure is dead in the water.
Boooo!
Oooooo
Can't believe the marvels is the bigger flop than aquaman 2 considering it's from MCU rather than dead franchise like DCEU. The Marvels is at 205 million worldwide now while Aquaman 2 is at 120 million in it's first week.
More like Aquaman and the Lost Box Office, amirite
I liked the movie, but that’s gold.
Aquaman 2 needed more of the octopus drummer in order to make a billion like the first one.
I’m going to be honest, I think if they’d cut Amber Heard completely out of the movie it would have done several times better.
It didn’t need aqua man it should have been all octopus drummer. I want octopus whiplash.
@@dannysmi7162Let’s be honest. Even without Amber Heard, it would be a mediocre movie at best. Marvel and DC need to make more compelling movies with compelling plots. The audience grew and evolved over the years. These writers and studios did not.
@@dannysmi7162absolutely not
@@dannysmi7162
Not sure that would make a difference. People have gotten so tired of bad superhero movies and this movie in particular is part of a now dead franchise that is getting reshaped and rebooted.
Also I’d be curious if this depression in tickets extends to more independent films or films that are considered “more artsy”. I feel like people think the big studio films are very stale, but I don’t think that sentiment extends to the smaller films/A24 style films. I’d be curious to see if A24’s year was as glum as Disneys or Universals by comparison.
I’d love to see Dan break this idea down
How was Universal’s year glum? They had two of the three biggest hits!
A24 had a good year overall.
On one hand, they did lose money on Beau is Afraid with had a $35M budget and only gross $11M. However Past Lives made $21M against a $12M budget, and Talk to Me grossed $92.M against a small budget of $4.5M, Priscilla grossed $20.9M from just domestic box office (it'll go into other countries starting in Jan 2024), and The Iron Claw is looking to be a small success over the holidays.
That "In the yeeeeear 2000" Conan reference put a smile on my face, classic bit.
Looking back at this year, I think this is the least amount of films I saw in theaters since 2020. Due to my budget changing, it's harder to go even to matinee screenings as those discounts are still around $10 a seat at least. If I don't go on discount Tuesdays it can cost like $60-80 for 2 or 3 of us to go with price of tickets and snacks. And personally I know a lot of people laid of this year, so I wonder with family situations we're seeing less people at theaters especially with lay offs at the end of the year.
When I see these are uploaded I start Chanting "Charts. With. Dan. Charts. With. Dan" in the rhythm of the 'U.S.A' chant
The main reason movies are doing so poorly is that the time between theatre release and home streaming is now just 1-2 months. Remember when you would have ti wait 10 months to get your hands on the dvd if you missed the chance to see a movie in theatres? Why spend 100$ to take the family to see a movie when you can stream it at home next month?
For a family, streaming really gives a superior value. Also at home you can buy snacks for the whole family for less than 20% of what it costs at theater.
The movie industry really needs to improve the moviegoing experience. I have a few small theaters near me that I enjoy. I can get a reasonably priced drink beforehand if I'm early, then get a genuinely good bucket of popcorn to eat during the movie and sit in comfortable seats. Last week, I wanted to see Aquaman, more out of morbid curiosity than anything, and the only theater near me was a Regal. It was a completely outdated theater. I don't mean it was in bad condition. It was clean and newish. But it had mediocre seats and awful popcorn. Just in general, it didn't feel like an experience I should pay almost $40 for (over $16 for the ticket, and over $20 for the soda and popcorn) even before the uninteresting film. Additionally, I had to wait over 30 minutes past the scheduled start time for the movie to begin. That's unacceptable. The unlimited movie memberships are a step in the right direction but I'll pay more to go to an independent theater with a better experience.
There are so many indie theaters out there with loyal and returning customers that are successful for exactly the reasons you're talking about. The big chains' continued deliberate ignorance about the slowly degrading theater experience and high prices is accelerating what could be a death spiral for theaters as we know them.
I think AMC and smaller franchises like Icon have really nice theaters with comfortable recliners and large food and drink options, but they're too pricey for most showings. Icon does $6.50 or so movies on Tuesday nights, so if I go to a theater, it's going to be Tuesdays. Otherwise, get ready to pay about $15/ticket, more if you book online for opening weekends.
In the UK, there are several "indie chain" type groups of cinemas which seem to focus on delivering a better experience than the soulless multiplex, with more comfortable seats, better food and drink brought to your seats etc. I wonder if there's a gap in the market for these in the US.
@@mrmacross I mostly go to these kind of indie/small-franchise cinemas in the UK, and they are sometimes more expensive than the multiplex chains (but not necessarily). However, I rarely if ever pay full price because I use MUBI GO (a subscription service connected to an "arthouse movies" streaming service) to get free tickets (which translates to much lower prices per ticket especially if I go to a lot of them), and I also have membership of one of the small franchise chains (and used to have membership of a different one), which also translates to cheaper tickets.
@@KeithFraser82 We do have some theaters like that in the US but not a lot. I live in Chicago and there's only one theater like that that I know of in the city itself, and we have the third highest population in the country.
Aquaman 2 legit made less than Marvels, which had like dozens of articles about how badly it flopped...Aquaman doesnt even get the articles, it flopped so bad everyone forgott about it week 2.
December legs where typical dailies act as weekend days. Wait for the movie to finish its run. Releasing in December changes the context.
DC failing is WAY different from MCU failing.
Aquaman 2 will also outgross Marvels.
There is no conspiracy
EVERYONE expected Aquaman to do what it's doing - slowly limp away from the burning wreck of the DCEU. Hence why it had so little marketing and not even a premiere. While many people did expect The Marvels to flop, the studio and media outlets were still acting like it was going to do well until it actually came out. Plus, despite the bad state of the MCU, it's not actually dead the way the DCEU is, so an MCU flop is way more newsworthy.
Sooo... I'm guessing fish don't have legs.
Underrated comment right here! 🧜🏻♂️👖
"The DCEU is dead. Bury it."
Into the compost heap it goes!
some of these movies are already VOD, why would I go to the theater when I can get it at home for half the price?
Movie genres run in cycles of popularity - in the past there were peak multi-years for musicals, westerns, rom-coms (hello 80's!), sci-fi, epic dramas, etc. It's been all about superhero/comic book movies for a number of years now - maybe it's just running out it's clock like all the others have. Will be interesting to see what the next genre will be.
I'm starting to get the idea that this year's lackluster cinema output from Hollywood is indicative of how effed up Wall Street is. Regardless of what's happening "on the ground", be it a pandemic, a writer's strike, or simply a movie that needs more time to germinate, these studios still have to answer to shareholders want to see growth quarter after quarter, year after year.
The result: Hollywood will put out half-baked movies no matter what. 🤔
But, in terms of investment, half-baked movies will not cut it. Neither will releasing movies to streaming far too soon the way they have been doing. "Wall Street" wants to make money. Crap movies will not typically do that.
Wall Street are almost single handidly wrecking absolutely everything.
It would be cool if you did a chart that shows the difference between average box office of blockbusters before and after movies like the mcu(high blockbusting comic book movie) just to put into perspective what success used to mean what it became and what it might be going back to.
A potentially interesting idea for a deep dive segment: Budgets of movies in various eras. For example, Cleopatra (1963), known for it's horrendously high budget at the time, is now 33 on the list of highest budget movies when adjusted for inflation. In the top 76 (what was on Wikipedia because it was accessible) only 5 movies were in the 20th century.
Love your show, Dan. I have a couple of questions.
1. When was the last time a Disney movie did not feature in the Top 10 Weekend grosses, and what is the longest duration where something like that happened?
2. Why have you stopped doing the Studio grosses breakdown? It was one of my favourite parts of the show.
Thanks for the yule tide work, Dan! Hope you and the lovely missus have a belter of a new years!
It's interesting about "Wonka" overtaking "Aquaman" for the 26th. I went to the Del Oro theatre in Grass Valley, CA last night to see "Wonka." It's an old theatre palace that was converted to three screens by splitting up the balcony into two screens while leaving the original (much larger) screen intact. Earlier last week, the website indicated "Aquaman" was on the big screen. But when we got there yesterday, "Wonka" was on the big screen (and there was a large number of people in the audience). I guess "Wonka" was really showing more potential during "Aquaman's" opening weekend.
I would love to see a poll asking movie-goers what movies they saw, what movies they skipped (that they night have seen), and what kept them away from theaters this year. I don't know where it could be posted that would drive enough responses to give an accurate reading, but I'm very curious what the responses would be.
That's a great idea. I skipped all Marvel and DCEU movies because they looked like derivative CGI cr@p. I skipped Mission Impossible because I hate watching Tom Cruise in anything. I DID watch John Wick chapter 4 because I enjoyed all the previous ones; Barbie because it looked visually unique; Killers of the Flower Moon because of reviews; and Godzilla Minus One because of "word of mouth." The vast majority of movies I could either live without or just wait until streaming, like Elemental, Oppenheimer, Napoleon, etc.
Just don’t have the money to go to the movies anymore. That and nothing appealing is being released.
At your review I went and saw Godzilla. That's my contribution to the box office. Very interesting movie.
"Christmas day's been around a long time."
Yeah, that seems accurate.
So there’s Spiderverse and…I guess that’s it for Comic book movies people are still interested in!
Guardians 3 did pretty well this year too.
These two are also the only comic book movies I watched in theaters. Didn't used to skip any.
Four underwater movies in a little over a year and this one ended at the bottom of the ocean
Do you think that maybe the lackluster performance of the box office is partly due to people feeling like there's less choices in cinemas nowadays? Hollywood has restructured itself to make much less movies with much higher budgets, and sent everything else to streaming. But now that those movies don't make a billion dollars anymore (and the streaming model seems to underperform), do you think we may see more mid-sized movies from talented filmmakers geting the marketing push and wide cinematic release they deserve? I live in Greece and seeing some of the most talked-about movies of the year (Zone of Interest, All of Us Strangers) get such miniscule releases over there is insane to me.
If you look at that 2000 Top 5, that's 5 movies starring 5 of the biggest movie stars in the world. That's like having a 2023 weekend where The Rock, Timothee Chalamet, Chris Hemsworth, Zendaya and Tom Cruise each had a relatively small (i.e. not 300 millon dollar) movie coming out *at cinemas* at the same time. That sounds insane nowadays!! But maybe it can become the norm again, as Hollywood slowly realises that they can't have an Avengers Endgame every month, and that wasting talent on streaming movies is unsustainable.
That's what I'm hoping! More midsized budget movies with talented high profile actors! @@chrisdemetriou8593
There's not as many movie stars now. @@chrisdemetriou8593
Nice blast from the Conan past lol… and beautifully sung too!
Light escapism appears no longer to be something audiences want. I expect the general mood of the public has something to do with that.
2023 might be the worst year for big-budget movies?
Can't believe how the MCU and DCEU both have hit an all-time low. Even animated movies have underperformed. Movies that were supposed to be full-proof are no longer bankable. It's a lesson to the studios to focus more on quality than quantity. GOTG3 and Across The Spiderverse prove that there is still an audience for these movies, it just has to be worth going to the theatres.
This shows the market is shrinking and it might be frustrating and everything comes around with a circle and this year it was and I think it will shrink more and more. Comic book movies won’t be there anymore to boost domestic box office anymore so original films have to do the leg work and audience kinda has abandoned the original movie completely and also abandoning comic book genre as well… so next year you will see it will shrink more and more. The companies should re new their objective to low cost to higher profit.
We have to give it to Godzilla Minus one. It made 40 million in the US, with only internet marketing, and it cost just *15 million* dollars to make.
Also, it seems like we may actually witness and anime (The Boy and the Heron) make more than a major Disney animated release (Wish) That represents something big.
-1 definitely a success as foreign language in US. Interestingly enough my quick search told that it would have made more in US than ib Japan.
Who would have guessed out of all of the DCEU that the first Aquaman would be the only $1 billion movie?
I don’t know, I would’ve expected the first Wonder Woman to make 1 billion. Most people liked that movie.
Executives can blame streaming as much as they want to, but the fact of the matter is folks like me aren't going to pay 15 to 20 dollars to see the hot garbage they've been pumping out recently.
People have realised that bad movies aren’t worth paying for. They see the the most generic looking trailer for Aquaman and never think about it again.
That's it. If the trailers look promising and reviews are good people will show up. My group opted out of Aquaman, Flash and Marvels, but is already discussing theater options for Dune Pt2.
Wasn’t aware of the Freud/Lewis movie. There’s a book about hypothetical conversations between CS Lewis, Aldous Huxley and JFK, who all died on the same day about religion and the after life.
All the best to you and your family this new year, Dan
I have been patiently waiting for this video. Thank you, sir.
NFL had multiple games Saturday Sunday and Monday and with that landing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I think that ate into a lot of the box office plus a very rainy weekend in the south - combined with no must see movies and this is what you get.
Disney's Holiday Tentpole Animated Feature still needs to make another 7 Million (about 15% more of it's current total which is very unlikely) to beat out THE PAW PATROL MOVIE!! That is absolutely wild to me. I realize that Wish wasn't a great movie, but Paw Patrol was pretty aweful, too. (I have a kid and had to go see both films... lucky me!)
Edit: I'm talking Domestic numbers, not international... which is still significant!
I think Disney/Pixar's titles for their animated movies need an overhaul - no one knows what "Wish" "Elemental" "Strange World", "Onward" mean. They don't have to be long titles, but I feel like you should understand a little more about the movie from a title. Even though Disney argued "The Princess & the Frog" didn't bring boys to the theater, you at least have an idea of what the movie is about!
@@super256colors2 agreed. Why couldn't it be called Rapunzel? Why did it have to be "Tangled"? Her hair didnt even get tangled in the movie. (By the way, I really like Tangled, but the title sucks. This trend has been going on for over a decade now!)
Edit: I used Tangled as an example because although it does bring long hair to mind, it's just as abstract a concept as Elemental, which was a Romeo/Juliet story about different elements (plus a random sub-plot about not doing what your parents want even though she seemed really good at it and perfectly happy with it, except customer service of course which her dad also struggles with, until about 2/3 of the way through the movie when she abandoned her well-paying career to pursue an internship to do a hobby full time even though she 100% could have made glass sculptures and sold them successfully while running her parent's well established shop. I mean how is she supposed to make money off her glass sculptures without a store to sell them in? You'd think having a store all set up would give you a HUGE advantage in selling your handmade products, but no... it's what her dad wanted her to do, so therefore it's not what SHE wants to do, so it's BAD... even though it is absolutely possible that the thing your dad wants you to do is also the thing that you want to do... just because your dad wants it doesnt mean you can't want it too. "Oh, he always wanted me to do it, and I always wanted to do it too; therefore, he must be manipulating me..." What kind of BS is that? Granted, I dont think they said those exact words, but it is heavily implied. At the end, the dad is all sad and guilty for being excited about something and seeing his daughter excited about the exact same thing and sharing a lot of great bonding moments over a shared passion... HOW DARE HE?!) Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah... Elemental SUCKED!! And more than just the title on that one.
Love the "Looking Back" feature and adjusting for current dollar amounts. Would love to see Dan go way back (if he can find data) to something from the 1950s or 1960s.
People aren't going to see BAD movies! Most of the big flops this year were not good movies. Some were ok at best. People are showing up for the good ones, Barbenheimer proves it. Wonka is doing well, and it's good. GotG was also good. So was Mario. The only good one that wasn't the hit it deserved to be was Mission Impossible, but that was because it was hurt by Barbenheimer and lost screens.
The more serious dramas, "Oscar movies", don't really count, they're rarely box office hits anyway (I'm putting Killers of the Flower Moon in this category, it's not fair to compare it to Oppenheimer, a Nolan summer movie. It was never gonna make money anyway).
If you think MI DR is the only good film to not do well this year, you clearly barely watch films.
The idea audiences show up to good films is laughable. They show up to franchises that aren't a complete joke at this point. Barbenheimer is an anomoly and was driven by a meme, barbie as a product, Nolan's name, and yeah the films were quality themselves. But that doesn't mean audiences are willing to see non franchises if they also have quality.
Warner Bros barely promoted Aquaman 2. I didn’t see any commercials for it. I only seen one back in September
Thank you Dan for another great show! Based on your chart comparing pre-Covid, it will be very interesting to see if the trend continues in 2024. Btw if you haven’t seen his end of year show with Rocca and Harloff, it’s great! Be dry informative and low-key. No heads battling for control of the screen!!
saw Matilda the musical in the cinema, it was absolutley delightful! i'm sure if it was theatrically released everywhere it would have done much better, such a shame but glad it made the top 5.
another year, another Dan! thanks for all the wonderful numbers and graphics!
Aquamans opening is all right in my opinion, because it's excactly what everyone expected.
Well everyone's expectations were rock bottom. So that doesn't help
@@nms7872
True
Migration's trailers have looked so medicore at best. It has only ever reminded me of Fly Away Home from the 90's which is a actually good movie and loosely based on the true story of a ultralight and trike pilot who guided orphaned geese on their first migration.
Saw Godzilla Minus One on the 25th. My movie of the year for sure. Now I gotta go see The Boy and the Heron.
I think we can call it, the BOX OFFICE will NEVER be what it once was. Too many reasons why but with $ being what it is so many people are just waiting for streaming. I LOVE theatres but it is what it is
It is way more complicated than that. Streaming has been around for years
@nms7872 it is more complicated, which is why I said too many reasons why. the streaming is just the simplest, in my belief people during the pandemic got used to saving that money and watching at home where they have there own food, bathroom and not a dozen strangers with there phones out or crying babies at a rated r film etc etc
@@travissmith6380Movie tickets are expensive, so you need to save for something that’s really worth it.
Is there a way we could get a chart which shows us a typical marketing window for films vs when the wga and sag strikes were happening and maybe also include films that were pushed out of the holiday season because of them.
I have to believe that this supposed slump is largely because of a complete lack of advertising from anybody involved
Is counting box office, and certainly comparing it to pre-streaming (or pre 2020) numbers, any longer valid? Just as the music charts were once made purely on record sales, then began to include streaming etc - will we ever see the movie charts include streaming numbers? That would surely help make the wider picture much clearer, since the "bums on seats" figures should also include our couch.
I think this is only relevant from a financial sense when it’s clear how streaming plays into a movie’s performance. Streaming with music is also a bit different because it’s simultaneous with record sales, not weeks later.
@@DanMurrellMovies I imagine the biggest reason "they" don't release streaming figures is that they're so difficult to quantify. In Box Office, 1 ticket = 1 person = x dollars - while streaming is a mess of how many people watching, for how long, watching half now, half later... even going by "minutes watched" doesn't give a clear view - 10 million people watching the first 10 minutes of a Zach Snyder isn't the same as 1 million people watching all 100 minutes of a Wes Anderson. It's all very murky.
I saw The Boys in the Boat around 1 on Sunday in the Sioux Falls Theater. Decent size crowd for a matinee during a rainy day, but it had 30 minutes worth of trailers.
That’s crazy! Illumination always does well, regardless of the quality of their movies! This is unprecedented. Maybe they just didn’t have enough advertising. Kind of like how Dream Works essentially just gave up on their Teenage Kraken movie. Like yeah, of course Kraken failed, you didn’t even try.
I disagree. I don't remember seeing an ad or a trailer for Teenage Kraken. Thanks to a few good reviews, I took my son to the theater. We had a pretty good time.
We've seen the trailer for Migration several times. The jokes in the trailer are bad. We will almost certainly skip it.
@@FameyFamous Ah I see. Well, not every movie can be a winner.
What’s funny about this is that Migration already outgrossed Teenage Kraken even though this is the worst performance for Illumination.
Migration had a lot of in-theater marketing. Regal used it as a tie in for its 50 dollar gift card and get a 10 dollar concession card deal, besides the trailers, which were quite common for family films. I saw it, it wasn't bad, bit of a plot hole, but really enjoyed Carol Kane as the Heron. Her scenes were great.
I want to go see Aquaman 2, but I’m visiting my parents for Christmas, and we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere in terms of how far I’d have to go to get to a good theater.
My fam and I loved aquaman 1 in theaters but this year we chose to watch the color purple
Thanks dan. Always give charts a thumb up and a comment to try and get the algorithm in your favour.
“In the year 2000…” Loved the Late Night with Conan O’Brien reference 🤣
Aquaman must be a fish because it has no legs.
Migration is an awful title for an animated kids' movie. Was there ANY marketing?
I visited family in the dominican republic and I went to the cinema often because of how cheap the prices were in comparison to in the u.s. Not an unpopular opinion for a reason, I really think movies in general would benefit a lot more from it
The box office is forever changed imo...when one can just wait a few months for streaming or dvd now.
Wait a few months for DVD.....
This has been around for over 20 years
I'm so glad Indian movies are doing so good lately. Quality cinema should never go unnoticed.
Me too. I watched Leo, and it was great fun.
@@TheBatosaiwatch the previous 2 parts of this cinematic universe (called LCU,L stands for the nameof writer/director):
Kaithi and Vikram
@Z71990 Thanks for the suggestion, friend.
Just think of all the Hugh Grant Oompa Loompa merchandise that will be sold.
Managed to catch Poor Things, but don’t live anywhere near a theatre playing American Fiction. I’m so desperate to see that movie!
it's not even the money. Why would i spend 3 hours of my life watching a movie that is average or only mildly entertaining. Movies are competing for time with Tik Tok, UA-cam, Instagram, streaming and Video Games and they are slowly losing. Movies as a source of entertainment are falling further down the list than they were in the past.
I know it dropped "at the worst time possible" but I keep wondering if you'll do a special Streaming With Dan where you go over "the revelations" available from the huge data dump that Netflix did putting the streaming numbers out there for years worth of "stuff"
It wasn't years' worth, it was the first six months of 2023. I've been going over it, there's still lots to get through.
Ahh I think I misremembered the article I saw it a bit ago -- still, excite to see what you parse out of it!
6:40 Hey Dan, would it be possible to keep this year's line present next year? With how up & down this year has been I think it would be good for comparison on it's own.
But 2023 would be an outlier because of the strikes and postponed release dates
@@mhawang8204 Yeah, that's why I think it should remain separate.
I'm interested in the tv shows charts so i can see how well PJO is doing lol
I'm surprised about Migration. I took my daughter to the theater last night and it was packed. I guess that's why numbers are more important than anecdotal.
I hope Iron Claw has good legs!
Why can't anybody come up with a bad guy with an actual solid bad guy plan?
Compilements of the season.
I had no idea there was a new Aquaman movie...
I'm disappointed Godzilla Minus One didn't do better. Its the best story the franchise has ever done with decent fx but its only making the money of a lackluster blockbuster. I can only hope Hollywood tries to emulate their cut-rate filmmaking because they can't afford the $200 million films anymore.
It’s doing exceptionally well for an international film with little to no marketing, especially compared to what would be spent on a blockbuster. Far above what would be expected.
Do you think this is indicative of an audience sea change? Many of these underperformers are sequels or incredibly derivative or recycled IP, or played out genres, and not very creative scripts. Thats a subjective analysis but it seems to ve a trend to me of people turning away big budget studio films
These types of analysis really require a bigger sample and more objectivity. Because keep in mind that the the top 2 grossers of the year are based on long estalbished, well recognized IP, 4th and 5th are parts of massive franchises, 6th is a sequel and the like 10th spider man movie.
streaming almost single handedly
@@miz4535 I feel like that's only partly true and a studio copout. Like no one is streaming Aquaman or the marvels or migration or wish etc to massive numbers that that's the reason people aren't seeing them in the box office. That's a false connection.
How do you know how much people are streaming these films? They don't really give out numbers. Pixar and Disney live action films have made substantially less since streaming, and the quality is no different. I wonder why that is. Encanto did gangbusters on streaming yet flopped theatrically. @@Robinripley
At least the MCU had GOTG V3 be a hit at the box office. What does the DCEU have to hang their heads on for this year?!?
I actually really enjoyed Blue Beetle. But even then I'll admit it wasn't breaking new ground. It certainly didn't break new ground financially speaking.
Actually that's a lie, it did break new ground financially. It made less money than the other DCEU movies, including Shazam 2.
GOTG 3 is more a win for Gunn than it is for Disney. It's success does not make up for the other losses financially they have endeared this year while Gunn got to put another feather in his cap for his vision coming to an end.
@@1kbmahan I can understand not liking it, but that’s such a laughable statement,
Your P&A cost for Aquaman 2 is too high? Like is there even advertising??
Maybe they spent $50m there wasn’t even a red carpet lol
As always, Dan is the absolute best for box office data and content!
However, I have been missing the Rotten Tomatoes Decoded segment. Does anyone know if that segment been switched to another show?
The Family Man deserves more love. A holiday staple in my house.
India is killing it with their big budget action blockbuster in the US. Started with Baahubali 1&2, followed by RRR, KGF1&2, & now this year with Pathaan, Jawan, Animal, Leo and Salaar. Next year is going to be even bigger
Rrr was a Marvel in cinema and a great message of friendship and anti-colonization messages. Loved it
Oh, plain clothes superhero movies with melanin and incorrect subtitles are TIGHT.
Pushpa 2, Kalki, Devara, BMCM
@@Z71990 yes. Pushpa 2 might be the biggest one in India. But Project K a.k.a Kalki 2898 AD will be the biggest Indian film internationally, as it's a sci-fi genre & also the most expensive Indian film ever made
I would love to see the marketing budget for Migration cause I do not think I ever saw a full trailer. Just a few quick couple second teases.
I am a middle aged woman with kids, and I saw adverts for it all the time. The thing I never saw marketing for was Aquaman 2. It's frustrating because I search and watch almost exclusively geeky stuff (comic books, DnD, SciFi, etc), and have the thing checked to get specifically catered ads, but the algorithm sees "middle aged woman who statistically probably has kids" and only gives me commercials for laundry detergent, grocery stores, and kids media. 😡 Edit: oh, and wrinkle cream... can't forget that!
@22:13 That Worldwide poster for BFG is horrifying. Especially compared to the Domestic poster
Didnt even know Freud’s Last Session even existed but actually sounds really interesting
Dan you’re great and deserve all your success
Damn. I thought that movie was called "Dunk!," and figured it was a Brian Dunkelman documentary, or something.
Migration has a bumpy flight.
I feel like everyone I know is sick-so not great for getting people to theaters! or wanting to be around crowds of strangers…
Warner Bros. should be thanking their lucky stars they managed to score the highest grossing movie of the year with Barbie, otherwise this year has been a complete disaster for them at the box office alongside Disney. I think Robert Pattinson’s Batman movie last year may have been the last DC movie to actually do well and the string of flops they’ve had since then already make that feel like a distant memory. Both DC and Marvel need to change things up, stop making their movies look like they’re part of an assembly line of manufactured products and carefully hone in on fewer, higher quality movies if they want to do well again.
The insane thing is that Warner Bros. has been limping along for AWHILE. Remember Pan and their Man from UNCLE remake? As soon as Harry Potter finished (2011!), they were in hot water.
Are you going to start doing “Coming this week” again? I found that show very useful!
Unfortunately, no. It never attracted enough viewers to justify the time I put into it.
@@DanMurrellMovies That’s a shame! Some of the best stuff I saw this year I discovered through that show
DC should have killed off Slamber Turd at the very least... Pretty sure keeping her in Aquaman had a negative impact.
As a movie fan I love that people finally showed Hollywood this year with their wallets what they find important which is a wanting a good story, well written characters and good word of mouth. If Hollywood wants to do better at the box office in 2024 they need to spend more time and money to allow writers to write better scripts and dialogue and way less on bland CGI because James Cameron has raised the bar a lot when it comes to CGI
Sure. In the meantime, a mass of people like me just waited until it hit streaming a few weeks later, whether it was good or not. Don't put too much stock into the idea that fans ignored the theater because of "quality." I suspect this lack of enthusiasm for the theater will continue as long as we know that we can watch the movie for much cheaper by just waiting a few weeks.
I went to the movies on Christmas Eve and was shocked at how empty the place was. Every time I've gone to the movies on Christmas, it is packed. Not a good sign for studios.
I think if a movie doesn't have good word of mouth, then its pretty much dead in this new environment. People are not spending the huge gobs of cash for tickets that theater's are asking. Its why I feel that Cinema is going to only serve for special releases as more movies get released through streaming platforms now.
3:36 Is that Gerard Butler in Salaar? 😬
As far as box office of our blessed year 2023 there is but one thing upon which we can all agree: some movies came out.
In contrast to the numbers, 2023 has been my personnal busiest at the theaters.
67 movies seen in person at the theater between january and december.
57 of which at my local independant theater, the other 10 at the Fantasia Festival.
For anyone wondering, here is my 2023 list.
(SP = Special Presentation with the crew present for a Q&A, usually including Director, Producer, Writer and Main Cast)
(DA = Dolby Atmos)
The Whale
M3GAN
A Man Called Otto
Missing
Infinity Pool
Women Talking
Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania
Cocaine Bear
Le Plongeur (SP)
Frontières (SP)
65
As Bestas
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
John Wick Chapter 4
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Farador (SP)
Renfield
Suzume
Evil Dead Rise
Beau is Afraid
Phi 1.618
Sisu
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 (DA)
Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse (DA)
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (DA)
La Nuit du 12
The Flash (DA)
Asteroid City
Indiana Jones: the Dial of Destiny (DA)
Past Lives
Le Temps d'un Été
Oppenheimer (DA)
Barbie
Gran Turismo (DA)
Les Chambres Rouges (SP)
Blue Beetle (DA)
Equalizer 3 (DA)
Richelieu (SP)
The Creator (DA)
Mad Max: Fury Road (DA)
Vampire Humaniste Cherche Suicidaire Consentant (SP)
Killers of the Flower Moon (DA)
Anatomie d'une Chute
The Holdovers
The Marvels (DA)
Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (DA)
Napoleon (DA)
Dream Scenario
Silent Night (DA)
The Boy and the Heron (DA)
Saltburn
Godzilla Minus One (DA)
Wonka (DA)
Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom (DA)
Poor Things
The Iron Claw
At Fantasia:
A Chinese Ghost Story
Sympathy for the Devil (SP)
Divinity
Ride On
Sand Land (SP)
Talk To Me (SP)
New Normal
Le Visiteur du Futur
What You Wish For (SP)
Late Night With the Devil
Buries? Sinks was right there.